#289 | Love Is Limitation: Disillusionment & Obligation In Troubled Times w/ Stephen Jenkinson

Intro: 13:25 | Outro: 1:17:23

Stephen Jenkinson, author of ‘Die Wise’ and ‘Come of Age,’ returns to the podcast to discuss what he and musical collaborator Gregory Hoskins have been up to since their Nights of Grief and Mystery global tour was cancelled when coronavirus lockdowns began last year. Released in November, they put together two albums, DARK ROAD and ROUGH GODS.

In the idleness that’s been forced upon us we’ve made two records. I learned this: music is human scaled miracle.

They call it fishing, not catching. That’s because, though there may be fish galore in the places you can’t see, none of them are in the world to satisfy your hook, and mostly they don’t come. I don’t really know where these records came from, but I know they came to two men willing to sit quietly for hours upon days, keeping their faithless wits about them, paying attention, paying for it. We’ve been often quizzed at the border: what do you do? what kind of music? what’s with the Grief and Mystery thing? Palms up, shrugging: that’s an honest answer.” (http://bit.ly/DarkRoadsRoughGods)

In discussing this subject, we move into a conversation about love, or how we commonly understand love to be, versus what love really is and is practiced, and what it asks of us in the time allotted to us on this earth. Intersecting with Stephen's work in the "death trade" and his interrogation of the death-phobic culture of the United States and Canada, he frames our exploration of love within the deeper understanding of how limits make us human.

Stephen Jenkinson, MTS, MSW is an activist, teacher, author, and farmer. He is the founder of the Orphan Wisdom School in Tramore, Canada and the author of four books, including ‘Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul,’ the award-winning book about grief and dying, and the great love of life, and ‘Come of Age: The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble.’ In 2015, he created Nights of Grief & Mystery with Canadian singer-songwriter Gregory Hoskins. With a 5-piece band, they have mounted international tours and released three albums, most recently DARK ROADS and ROUGH GODS. Most recently, a four-part livestream speaking series, STONE FENCE SAGAS, were presented in Fall 2020.

Episode Notes:

- Learn more about and purchase DARK ROADS and ROUGH GODS: http://bit.ly/DarkRoadsRoughGods / https://orphanwisdom.com/shop/dark-roads / https://orphanwisdom.com/shop/rough-gods

- Learn more about Stephen’s work: https://orphanwisdom.com

- The songs featured are “Invocation” and “Bittersweet” from ROUGH GODS.

- To contact Hannah Dwyer about her Friend Farm invitation, you can email her or DM on Instagram: dwyer96@gmail.com  / https://www.instagram.com/hannahrdwyer

- Read her article ‘Magic Can Create a Decolonial Future’ at Gods&Radicals Press: http://bit.ly/3uL0k9m

Video Segment:

#206 | Our Devotional Act: Nights Of Grief & Mystery w/ Stephen Jenkinson

Intro: 12:37 | Outro: 1:22:37

In this episode, I speak with culture activist, teacher, author and ceremonialist Stephen Jenkinson. We discuss his most recent performative project ‘Nights of Grief & Mystery,’ made in collaboration with “song and dance man” Gregory Hoskins — as documented in the recent short film ‘Lost Nation Road,’ directed by Ian MacKenzie.

After watching Ian MacKenzie’s short documentary film ‘Lost Nation Road,’ I finally began to understand more fully the real spirit and essence of Stephen Jenkinson and Gregory Hoskins’ exquisite and subversive project ‘Nights of Grief & Mystery.’ By that, I mean the immersive and ritualized nature of this performative act. To describe this act merely as a storytelling/spoken word and musical performance is to reduce the unifying purpose to its individual components. ‘Nights of Grief & Mystery’ subverts our notions of what performance is and could be in this time of deep trouble, and as Stephen elaborates in this interview, this act taps into something far older than that of theatrical performance — ritual. Ritual engages with the collective, requiring the participation of all involved — which stands in contrast with proper theatrical performance as we often conceive and experience it, which as Stephen expresses, is a disfigurement of ritual, creating an arbitrary division between the “audience” and the “performers.” In subverting our notions of performance, Stephen and Gregory conjure an experience that alludes to the question: In these times of deepening trouble, how do we conduct ourselves? “These are nights in which love letters to life are written and read aloud. There’s some boldness in them. They have that tone. These nights have the mark of our time upon them, and they’re timely, urgent, alert, steeped in mortal mystery. They’re quixotic. They have swagger. What would you call such a thing? We call them Nights of Grief & Mystery.”

Stephen Jenkinson (MTS, MSW) is the author of numerous books, including 'Come of Age: The Case for Elderhood in a Time of Trouble' and 'Die Wise: A Manifesto for Sanity and Soul.' Stephen teaches internationally and is the creator and principal instructor of the Orphan Wisdom School, founded in 2010. With Masters degrees from Harvard University (Theology) and the University of Toronto (Social Work), he is revolutionizing grief and dying in North America. Apprenticed to a master storyteller, he has worked extensively with dying people and their families, is former program director in a major Canadian hospital, former assistant professor in a prominent Canadian medical school, consultant to palliative care and hospice organizations and educator and advocate in the helping professions. He is also a sculptor, traditional canoe builder whose house won a Governor General’s Award for architecture. Stephen Jenkinson is also the subject of the feature length documentary film ‘Griefwalker’ (National Film Board of Canada, 2008), a lyrical, poetic portrait of his work with dying people.

Episode Notes:

- Show times, locations, and information on the ‘Nights of Grief & Mystery’ tour: http://bit.ly/GriefMystery

- Watch Ian MacKenzie’s short film ‘Lost Nation Road’: https://www.lostnationroad.com


- Learn more about Stephen’s body of work: https://orphanwisdom.com

- Purchase John Halstead’s book ‘Another End of the World is Possible’: http://bit.ly/2Mr1Uur

- The intro features audio from ‘Lost Nation Road’: http://bit.ly/2Z1ImhW


- The outro features the song “Take A Little Walk / All The Songs of Love” by Gregory Hoskins and Stephen Jenkinson from the album Nights of Grief and Mystery: http://bit.ly/2Z8BNtO

#204 | The Village That Heals: Love School, Lost Nation Road, & Exploring The Edges w/ Ian MacKenzie

Intro: 12:34 | Outro: 1:29:24

In this episode, I speak with visionary documentary filmmaker Ian MacKenzie. We discuss his two most recent projects: ‘Love School’ — an ongoing film project, made in collaboration with John Wolfstone and Julia Maryanska, that explores the revolutionary research village and healing biotope Tamera in Portugal; and Ian's recently released short film ‘Lost Nation Road’ — which follows culture activist and author Stephen Jenkinson and Canadian musician Gregory Hoskins on their unlikely collaboration with the ‘Nights of Grief and Mystery’ tour.

“In the Oak-dotted countryside of Southern Portugal lies the Tamera Healing Biotope, one of Earth’s most radical social experiments in human futurism.” (http://loveschoolkickstarter.com ) In this discussion with Ian, we discuss his ongoing collaborative project ‘Love School,’ a film that delves deeply into the revolutionary work the community of Tamera, which aims to build a nonviolent culture through the integration of eros (life force) — by building communities of trust, transparency, and solidarity between genders, reawakening the power of the village in human communities, and offering a pathway toward a regenerative future for all of humanity and the living world. By addressing the underlying alienation, disfunction, and trauma inherent in the dominant culture’s conditioning of human relationships (with each other, non-human life, and the land) through over forty years of community experimentation, Tamera provides a stunning example of what is most needed in our time of converging global crises. Ian’s shares his personal experiences of how he came to this healing biotope Tamera, and what motivates his desire to spread the message of this ongoing experiment in human healing and relationship with the rest of the world.

In the latter part of this discussion, Ian ties the work with ‘Love School’ with his recently released short film ‘Lost Nation Road,’ which follows the ongoing collaboration of culture activist, writer, and orator Stephen Jenkinson and musician Gregory Hoskins, as expressed in ‘Nights of Grief and Mystery’ tour. “These are nights in which love letters to life are written and read aloud. There’s some boldness in them. They have that tone. These nights have the mark of our time upon them, and they’re timely, urgent, alert, steeped in mortal mystery. They’re quixotic. They have swagger. What would you call such a thing? We call them Nights of Grief and Mystery.” (http://bit.ly/GriefMystery)

Ian MacKenzie is an award-winning filmmaker, author, and speaker. He is best known for his short film 'Sacred Economics' with Charles Eisenstein and 'Amplify Her' about the rise of the feminine in electronic music. His current projects include 'Lost Nation Road' with Stephen Jenkinson and Gregory Hoskins and 'Love School: The Film' about the revolutionary peace village Tamera in Portugal. His focus covers a range of diverse topics and subjects, though all fall under his mission of exploring the intersection of eros, emergence, and village.

Episode Notes:

- Support in the production of ‘Love School: The Film’ at the Kickstarter page: http://loveschoolkickstarter.com

- Watch ‘Lost Nation Road’: https://www.lostnationroad.com

- Read Ian’s essay ‘Love Will Be the Death of Us’: http://bit.ly/2OBwfrN

- Learn more about Ian’s work: https://www.ianmack.com

- Support Ian’s work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ianmack

- The outro features audio from ‘Charles Eisenstein - Why We Need Community To Live In the New Story’: https://youtu.be/SYgjuMtGQtc